Author Topic: Bio-fuel bike is gallons greener  (Read 13312 times)

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RagMan

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Reply #15 on: October 11, 2007, 02:07:01 am
I have done much less driving, and riding, since the price went up over $3.00. I don't like paying that much, and don't have a flexible income to cover it's cost. I am staying in Indiana this winter, because I can't afford to tow my trailer to Arizona, where it is warm - injuries sustained whilst serving have caught up with me, and my joints complain about the abuse they got. It is much worse in the cold, so usually I go to Arizona, or a coast for the warmer than Indiana weather. ( I have owned this house for three years - this month is my seventh of residence, not all together - the longest I have been here is four months. )
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LJRead

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Reply #16 on: October 11, 2007, 10:25:42 pm
We pay about $5/imperial gallon here - there is about a twenty percent difference, I believe, in this gallon versus the one in the U.S. So we pay perhaps $4 per U.S. gallon and it has to be brought in.  Britains high rates would really bug me if I lived there because England has the big oil field.

I will seriously consider converting the AVL 350 to diesel when the engine starts wearing out.  The Chinese clones of the Yamaha diesel seem to be very good and, having read conversion details on the web, it all seems fairly straight forward to convert.  They use the same trany, just replace the engine and engine mounting system.  But our speed limit in Tonga is only a little over 40 mph and, it is a pleasant enough speed to drive at given road conditions and the short distances traveled.

Producing copra for coconut oil used to be one of the largest industries here.  There was a guy here a few years back trying to sell a newly invented machine for extracting the oil, getting a very pure product.  There are still a lot of coconut trees here, although many are being cut down and shipped to Japan as timber (sound familiar?).  You used to be able to buy a gunnysack full of copra (dried coconut meat) for just a  couple dollars, U.S., but I don't know how much oil you'd get out of a bag.


cyrusb

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Reply #17 on: December 14, 2007, 03:15:32 pm
Neat, but I'd really like to see some, any, performance stats on a converted to diesel enfield. If you look on the web there are lots of them , particularly in Europe. How  many horsepower is the engine? Is it less than 22? I for one would not want any less than that.  If it is less ( which is what I suspect) Where would you ride it,slow city traffic?
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RagMan

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Reply #18 on: December 14, 2007, 04:15:24 pm
From the research I have done so far, the most powerful diesel used is about 14 hp. Hopefully there are some with more grunt.
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''99 Classic Bullet. '05 Ural Tourist sidecar rig, converted to 2wd. '05 Harley Davidson Sportster.
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indian48

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Reply #19 on: December 17, 2007, 01:33:22 am
I do not believe that you will get a small one cylinder diesel that will also not vibrate the bike to an extent that bits from the bike keep falling off,,,electrical connections keep getting broken etc etc. And diesel emissions are not particularly good news either.
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geoffbaker

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Reply #20 on: March 12, 2008, 02:26:35 am
This is the first time I caught a whiff of this thread!

Just for your information, I bought my military RE in February with the goal of converting it to run on biodiesel. I have the kit produced by Henry Price in England, and got a Yanmar clone 10hp engine off ebay. I'm going to run the RE around town for the next month or so, then make the conversion.

I fully expect to get over 200mpg with it, based on what I've seen... and that outperforms a gas engine by such a large factor that other issues (more particulates, more smell, more energy to produce) fall by the wayside.

I'm also hooking up some technology - a mpg meter from veypor, a cyl temp gauge from Dokata Digital, and some vapor injection... in the hopes of getting over 300mpg.

By every statistic I've read, biofuels are the best choice when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions - you will use less and generate less waste emissions per mile travelled than any other form of transportation on earth.

I doubt if things are going to vibrate any worse than they do on my fine 2000 Enfield "thumper", as is...

I'll keep this thread up to date with the conversion process.


LotusSevenMan

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Reply #21 on: March 12, 2008, 06:11:54 pm
Look forward to reading about the conversion Geoff.
Now wonder you went with the LED conversions in the other thread. Can't have that alternator robbing even a tiny bit of the engines hp when it is that limited to start with!!!  :D

Henry P was the guy I bought my straight through header/silencer from!
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geoffbaker

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Reply #22 on: March 15, 2008, 01:39:53 am
Henry P seems like a very nice guy!

Yes, my interest in LED's started when I read about low electric power output from the diesels... it should help!

I'll let you know how it goes. First, I want to spend a month running around in my newly rebuilt gas 2000 RE!